In November 2024, INFTA‘s Executive Committee members, Susan Joachim and Dr. Dieter Kotte, were invited to Japan on a fact-finding mission to reset and restart Forest Therapy – referred to as “Shinrin-yoku” (森林浴) in Japanese. Invited by a group of business people, several site visits within the Tokyo Prefecture were conducted to evaluate their suitability for Forest Therapy.

Among the places inspected were Hinohara Tomin-no-Mori, Showa Emperor Memorial Park and Komine Park in the West of Tokyo City. The Mayor of Hinohara-mura, Mr. Koji Yoshimoto, welcomed INFTA’s representatives in his office on 28 November 2024 and expressed his hope that health & wellbeing tourism could and will be strengthened in his region as a result of this mission.